麻豆社

Good morning.

I spend a lot of time visiting schools, and the community primary I went to on Monday on a social housing estate in Burnley was one of the most inspiring I have made. The environment was stunning, the children were delighting in their learning, the staff were breathtakingly committed to the task. But that task, they knew, was a hard one. On a housing estate that lacks pride in itself and often feels forgotten, it is tough to encourage children to take pride in themselves and in their achievements.

I was struck therefore by the Prime Minister鈥檚 honesty when announcing a new package of funding for social housing earlier this week. She said, "For many people, a certain stigma still clings to social housing. Some residents feel marginalised and overlooked.鈥�

The new funding deal has been widely welcomed, and in the wake of Grenfell Tower, long-term investment in the quality of social housing is surely good news. But the announcement left me with a question. Whilst the quality of housing matters, will it address the stigma that Theresa May identifies? Is a cash injection alone sufficient to improve people鈥檚 morale and build a sense of pride in their community?

At the beginning of John鈥檚 Gospel some disciples come to Jesus with a very straightforward question. 鈥榃here do you live?鈥� And he gives a very simple answer. 鈥楥ome and see.鈥� But he doesn鈥檛 take them to a house or a tent. Instead over time, he draws them into a wholly new way of being alive, a new network of relationships, a new community of love.

That simple exchange for me carries an insight into the nature of human flourishing. Whilst the physical quality of one鈥檚 home matters, it is not enough on its own. To address fully the stigma that the Prime Minister calls out, I would suggest that we also need to pay attention to the quality of relationships and of community life. Over the years many estates have lost places of engagement such as shops, pubs, churches and voluntary sector groups. Many residents have been disproportionately impacted by the economic consequences of the crash ten years ago. Lives have become atomised. Addressing this takes more than just money. It鈥檚 about a shared, conscious effort to rebuild quality relationships.

A house is not primarily an economic commodity. It is a personal investment in a place and in a network of life-giving relationships. Next week a strategy will be launched that will encourage the Church of England to recommit itself to the nation鈥檚 social housing estates. Churches provide places of belonging, of service, of relationship. As the government re-invests in bricks and mortar, we all need to be re-investing in the quality of communal life.

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